Well it violates our constitutional rights as citizens of the US. In general putting orders in place during a declared state of emergency is somewhat ok. But orders are not law, as we the people have not had the opportunity to apply due process of having our State Senate who represent us, present, argue, and vote on those orders placing them into law.
So what made these orders law was Hogan’s enforcement of them with police force – immediate arrest and unreasonable fines. These are actions of lawlessness, and tyranny.
Here is a letter that was posted by a concerned citizen Jodi Ward where she specifically points out all the constitutional violations, both in the US Constitution and in the Maryland Constitution and Bills of Rights. She sent it to the Governor in April. We the People should send more of these to him and to the State Senators, as they are currently keeping their heads in the sand and ignoring us since their governing session for the year has ended.
Dear Governor Hogan,
Between March 5 and today you have issued thirty-six “orders,” eleven “interpretive guidance” statements, and five “proclamations.” These actions are in violation of the Bill of Rights, Amendment 1, of the United States Constitution; of the manifest declaration of the purpose of just government stated in the Declaration of Independence; and of Articles 1, 4, 6, 9, 24, 32, 36, and 44 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights.
In the United States of America, lex rex – the law is king. No one is above the law. The Declaration of Independence, U.S. Constitution and the Maryland Constitution are the law of the land in Maryland.
Under the Maryland Constitution lawmaking authority is given to the Maryland General Assembly. The Governor is not granted authority to create law by fiat, declaration, proclamation, or executive order. In fact, that is expressly forbidden in Article 9 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights as follows: “That no power of suspending Laws or the execution of Laws, unless by, or derived from the Legislature, ought to be exercised, or allowed.” Moreover, Article 44 states, “the provisions of the Constitution of the United States, and of this State, apply, as well in time of war, as in time of peace; and any departure therefrom, or violation thereof, under the plea of necessity, or any other plea, is subversive of good Government, and tends to anarchy and despotism.”
By “executive order” – a convenient but unconstitutional tool created out of thin air in an attempt to cloak these actions with the façade of legality – the rights of the people to engage in commerce and business, to participate in communal life, to freely travel, and to work have been violated. Moreover, people have been imprisoned in their homes, required to wear a specific piece of clothing that is known by medical science to provide no protection whatsoever against the spread of a virus, and threatened with fines or imprisonment for disobedience. We are now nearing the end of the fourth week of what we were told would be a two-week restriction to slow the spread of Covid19.
Perhaps most egregiously Maryland citizens are denied the right to “worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to him.” This is the dearest of all civil liberties to many people. The right to free exercise of religion is explicitly protected in Amendment 1 of the US Constitution and in Article 36 of the Maryland State Constitution which states, “That as it is the duty of every man to worship God in such manner as he thinks most acceptable to Him, all persons are equally entitled to protection in their religious liberty.”
We respectfully request that you immediately do your duty under the US Constitution and the Maryland Constitution and withdraw all enforcement mechanisms supportive of these unlawful orders, proclamations, and interpretive guidance statements issued since March 5. They cannot have the force of law because neither their issuance nor their enforcement is lawful. They have “manifestly endangered” the “public liberty” and therefore are vacant of authority. (Article 6, MD Declaration of Rights)
The following passage from the Declaration of Independence, part of the organic law of Maryland, clarifies the purpose of Government. “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness – That to secure these Rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just Powers from the consent of the Governed, that whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these Ends, it is the right of the People to alter or to abolish it.”
Whereas Article 6 of the Maryland Declaration of Rights further states that “the doctrine of non-resistance against arbitrary power and oppression is absurd, slavish and destructive of the good and happiness of mankind,” we respectfully resist the unlawful use of the office of Governor to create laws by fiat. We appeal to you to correct this course of action and restore our laws – the Declaration of Independence, the U.S. Constitution and the Maryland State Constitution – to their proper place of authority in Maryland. We are certain that, having done that, Marylanders have the courage, ingenuity, and spirit of cooperation that will allow us to both combat the Covid19 virus and to protect the civil liberties of Maryland citizens.
Respectfully,
Richard L. Ward and Josephine S. Ward
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